Dear Parents and Carers,

This is my final newsletter entry for 2025, where has the time gone? This year at St Mary’s has been a terrific one filled with learning, improvement, growth and building. As I sit back and reflect on the year at St Mary’s I am pleased with the progress we have made over the year as a school community. We have refreshed building facilities after the Roseberry St refurbishment, improved outdoor play spaces (basketball court refresh and GaGa Pit), made great strides in our teaching and learning and we have happy students; the most important achievement of all.

Thank you for your ongoing support and partnership on your child’s educational journey. It is a privilege to be trusted to educate your children and guide them along their developmental journeys. As the year closes, I hope that you are able to enjoy a restful break, spending Christmas with your loved ones and enjoying the Melbourne summer.

St Mary’s Feast Day

On Monday, we celebrated St Mary of the Immaculate Conception’s Feast Day as a whole school. We began the day with a beautiful Advent Liturgy led by our Grade 5 students and followed the day with learning all about our patron saint, Saint Mary. It was a fun filled day, with lots of creativity and spaces for quiet reflection. The students learnt all about the different Marian imagery in our reception entrance:

Holy Mary
Mary, Queen of Peace
Mary, Seat of Wisdom
Mary, Mother of Divine Grace
Mary, Morning Star

They learnt about how Mary can help guide them on their journey in creative and reflective ways. Thank you to Genevieve Trevaskis our Religious Education Leader for your creative organisation of the day and for all of our staff for making a great day for the children. Thank you to the team at MACSEYE for putting on the sausage sizzle for our students.

Carols

It has been beautiful to witness each grade serenade our school community with Christmas carols each morning. The singing has brought Christmas spirit and cheer to the starts of our days across the Advent season. I hope the community has enjoyed this new addition to the St Mary’s calendar. Thank you to our staff for preparing our children for each performance.

Thank you to our St Mary’s Parent Groups

As the year draws to a close I would like to thank the St Mary’s parents groups: Parents & Friends, SMFaSS and G@S for their tremendous support of our school. The way you have sought to build connection in our community between parents and have worked to improve our school facilities through physical output and great fundraising initiatives is something that I am very grateful for.

Under 16 Social Media Ban

On December 10 the Australian government social media ban for under 16s took effect. This ban encompasses a number of platforms and its important that you keep informed so you can support your children through the change.

Be The Light

My example of Be The Light for this week is our outgoing grade 6 students. They are a tight knit group who enjoy many activities both inside and outside of St Mary’s together. They may be loud and boisterous at times but when push comes to shove, they are there to support each other, bring each other up and look after their mates. They are there to light the path when times get dark for their friends. They have a new path to walk as the high school adventure nears, and we wish them all the best.

Merry Christmas, we’ll see you next year.

Stay safe, Stay Healthy, Stay Connected,

Denis Johnstone

Principal